Questions Abound As Nfl Winds Down

David Teel

November 23, 1997|By DAVID TEEL Daily Press

Five Sundays to go in the NFL regular season, and inquiring minds want to know: Is Steve Mariucci a charter member of MENSA? Who is Doug Nussmeier? And, most important, was Everclear playing ``Santa Monica'' or ``Heroin Girl'' when Drew Bledsoe leaped into the mosh pit?

All of New England, you may have heard, is atwitter about Bledsoe's Gen-X stunt Nov. 13. Fewer than 72 hours before a game at Tampa Bay, the Patriots' 25-year-old quarterback attended an Everclear concert in Boston with two teammates, joined the band on stage and hurled himself into the crowd.

Big deal? It is for the get-a-lifers in New England whose only other concern is the latest Kennedy faux pas.

Bledsoe's one giant leap for mankind might have remained gossip page fodder but for one small detail: He stunk up the joint last week in a 27-7 loss to the Buccaneers.

The defeat dropped the Patriots to 6-5 entering today's home game against the Miami Dolphins. Not good for a team less than a year removed from the Super Bowl. Not good when the coach of that Super Bowl run, Bill Parcells, has the previously rancid New York Jets at 7-4.

With two Super Bowl victories from his New York Giants days, Parcells' success with the Jets is hardly shocking, as is Mike Ditka's turmoil in New Orleans. Sure, Ditka coached the Bears to a world championship in 1985, but the Saints are positively hopeless.

Ditka's starting quarterback today against the Falcons in Atlanta is Doug Nussmeier, known only to fantasy league geeks and diehard University of Idaho Vandals fans. Nussmeier was Division I-AA's national Player of the Year at Idaho in 1993 and has been in New Orleans since, backing up the likes of Jim Everett, Wade Wilson and Heath Shuler.

Whether Nussmeier has suddenly become Joe Namath, or the depth of NFL quarterbacks has hit rock bottom, is open to your interpretation.

The San Francisco 49ers appeared to be in dire quarterbacking straits on opening day when Steve Young went down with his umpteenth concussion, throwing rookie Jim Druckenmiller of Virginia Tech into the lineup. The Niners dropped that game to the Bucs and lost future Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice to a knee injury in the process, prompting the most gloom and doom to hit the Bay Area since Jerry Garcia died.

Young was advised to retire, and Niners management was told to retool the dynasty that had produced 14 consecutive seasons of at least 10 victories. It was not, to say the least, a healthy situation for a rookie NFL coach, especially one whose only previous season as a head coach included a loss to Navy.

Steve Mariucci, come on down.

Mariucci, 42, was a curious choice to replace George Seifert, who committed the unpardonable sin of winning a mere two Super Bowls in eight seasons. Mariucci labored four seasons as a Green Bay Packers assistant and is widely touted as Brett Favre's guru. But his first head-coaching experience came last season at Cal-Berkeley, which finished 6-6 after an Aloha Bowl loss to Navy.

Dubious qualifications aside, Mariucci has guided San Francisco to 10 consecutive victories since the defeat at Tampa, a record for a first-year coach. Young, the NFC's leading passer, has his wits back, Rice is pondering a playoff return, and the Niners have clinched the NFC West title.

San Francisco's postseason prospects, clouded by a soft schedule, are about to crystallize. Following today's contest against the Chargers, the Niners play consecutive games against the Chiefs, Vikings and Broncos - Super Bowl contenders all.

Will that stretch expose the Niners as frauds, or confirm their status as the league's model franchise? Most intriguing: Does Steve Young do mosh pits?